Horgan: Relatives: Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em

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SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 30: Paper circles with the Facebook logo are displayed during the F8 Facebook Developers conference on April 30, 2019 in San Jose, California. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered the opening keynote to the FB Developer conference that runs through May 1. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Maintaining your self-esteem in the difficult age of social media can be a challenge. That becomes particularly acute when one of your own family members unfriends you.

Yes, it finally happened to your favorite correspondent. She dumped me on Facebook. There was no announcement, no unpleasant rant, no warning whatsoever. She just tapped a button at some point and, voila, goodbye, Johnnycakes.

I figured it out when I realized that I had not seen anything from her for months. So I double-checked my Friends list and, sure enough, she was long-gone, AWOL from my select and very personal electronic ether.

It’s unclear why. Maybe it was something I said or wrote. It’s tough to say. The last time I saw her, there was no indication of unhappiness or a desire to be distant. We chatted amiably. But, who knows? Relatives are not always predictable.

Should I try to re-establish a Friends designation with her? Probably not. A double-rejection would not be healthy. One thing is certain, however: She probably won’t be in the will, such as it is.

Grim data

For conservatives who dwell along the Peninsula, can it get any worse? They must feel like strangers living in a strange land.

The official log of registered voters in San Mateo, as provided by the County Elections Office, just keeps getting more depressing by the month. The latest totals, announced at the end of April, indicate that the Democrat tsunami continues to overwhelm the party of Abraham Lincoln.

The numbers are stunning: 202,921 Democrats vs. 59,596 Republicans countywide. What’s even more distressing for those of the GOP persuasion is the tally of those who choose not to list any political preference at all; that number is a whopping 124,340.

By a margin of more than two-to-one, voters who prefer not to identify with any political party at all outnumber registered Republicans here.

Two of the wealthiest towns in America (which are presumably rather conservative as well) are in the Democratic camp, too.

We’re referring to San Mateo County high schools that opened in the decades after World War II and then petered out relatively quickly, eventually closing their doors due to a Peninsula-wide enrollment collapse. All were shut by the early 1980s.

The list includes these four schools: Crestmoor in San Bruno, Ravenswood in East Palo Alto, Serramonte in Daly City, and San Carlos. That last school came to mind last weekend with the announcement of the death of William Walti.

He was a former principal there, leading that campus from 1969 to 1973. He also served the Sequoia Union High School District as an assistant superintendent. He passed away April 28 in San Carlos at the age of 88.

Addendum

It’s worth noting that, of those four closed high school properties mentioned above, two are still owned by the taxpayers: Crestmoor and Serramonte.

The former is under consideration for development by trustees of the San Mateo Union High School District; the latter is still utilized for some functions by the Jefferson Union High School District.

Ravenswood and San Carlos acreage was sold off decades ago by the Sequoia Union High School District.

John Horgan’s column appears weekly in the Mercury News. He can be contacted by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.

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